Flag Day ceremony Saturday in Lapeer

Veterans for Foreign War post is site of unfit flags disposal

By Alex Petrie

810-452-2609•apetrie@mihomepaper.com

LAPEER — Flag Day is celebrated every year on June 14, commemorating the adoption of the flag of the United States. The adoption occurred in 1777 and was first observed in 1916, after President Woodrow Wilson’s proclamation that established the date as Flag Day.

The week of June 14 is also “National Flag Week,” which asks Lapeer County residents to fly the

American flag all week, along with the flag being displayed on all

Reagan government buildings.

Many organizations also hold parades and ceremonies in celebration of the flag and all that it represents.

The Lapeer Elks will host a ceremony Saturday in front of the historic Lapeer

County Courthouse in observance of

Flag Day, which will honor our current American flag, along with all of the different flags that have been flown in our country throughout the years.

“We’re celebrating what the flag means, and honoring the people who have died protecting it throughout history,” said Eileen Fick, 64, of Metamora. Fick is the Exalted Ruler of the Lapeer Elks Lodge, and has been a member for the past 18 years. “Along with the Elks, the American Legion Color and Honor Guard will be there, and the Explorer Scouts from the Sheriff’s Department.”

Flag Day this year will also see the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 2492 host an open house to showcase the renovation of its hall on Daley Road in Mayfield Township, inside and out, from 2:15 - 6:30 p.m. The renovation began in April of 2012 and was finished in May of this year.

Proper disposal of flags

Along with the open house, the VFW Post will host a flag burning ceremony that will start at 6 p.m. on the north lawn, which will last approximately 45 minutes. The flag burning is a patriotic ceremony that retires flags deemed unfit for display. The burning involves two color guards, one for the flag currently in use, and a special color guard for the flag or flags to be retired from service.

Area residents who have a worn, tattered or otherwise unfit flag may deposit them in a collection box outside the American Legion Hall on West Genesee that will be destroyed in the flag-burning ceremony Saturday.

The Elks’ Flag Day ceremony at the courthouse will last 30 minutes, and in the event of rain the service will be moved to the Elks Lodge, just up the road from the courthouse, at 200 E Nepessing St.

Said Fick, “It’s a wonderful ceremony. I have goose bumps just talking about it. It’s just a moving ceremony that honors all the men and women that sacrificed their lives to fly our flag.”